What Are the Signs of Parental Alienation?
Posted on Jul 10, 2013 3:31pm PDT
Has your family gone through a legal separation or divorce? Many times
when parents separate and the family becomes broken, parental alienation
can become a serious concern. Often times in a contested
divorce, the parents have to go through a gruesome
child custody battle over the children. Intense courtroom litigation of this nature
can stir up strong feelings of hatred, bitterness and resentment towards
the former spouse. This is when establishing a co-parenting relationship
can become nearly impossible. However, co-parenting is a much healthier
approach for the children and it could decrease the level of anxiety and
hostility within the family dynamic.
So what is parental alienation exactly? This type of behavior is when one
parent begins influencing the children by training them to reject and
disrespect the other parent. By encouraging the children to respond negatively
to one parent, the alienator is portraying themselves as the good parent
and the target parent is being shed in a bad light. In most cases, the
alienator does not have any justifiable reasons to turn the other parent
into a target, but they do so out of anger. Parental alienation is a destructive
behavior that could seriously affect children both emotionally and psychologically.
In order to avoid this harmful and destructive behavior, you have to look
out for the warning signs. Some classic signs of parental alienation behavior
would include:
- Pure black-and-white-thinking: Where the child sees one parent as bad and
the other as all good and they feel no remorse about it. The child typically
has reinforced hatred, contempt and fear for the targeted parent.
- Classic denial: If you ask the child if they are being negatively influenced
or coached by the other parent, they will deny it. Usually the child will
repeat the alienator's opinions word for word, but claims it to be
their own feelings.
- Negativity towards extended family: Typically when an alienator reinforces
negative thoughts about the targeted parent, those feelings will also
extend to the targeted parent's extended family as well. If your child
used to have a loving relationship with that side of the family and they
are now refusing contact with them, then alienation may have occurred.
- The reasons for content are unwarranted: If the child has strong feelings
of hatred and negativity towards the targeted parent and they are based
on frivolous reasons, then it may alienation. The negative feelings will
not be rooted in anything substantial, but they simply stem from destructive
alienating behavior.
- The child will repeatedly reject contact with one parent: Often times the
relationship between the child and targeted parent started out loving.
After a while the targeted parent is astonished to find out that their
child no longer want to spend time with them.
The damaging effects of parental alienation have been found to be long
lasting. Children who have
parental alienation syndrome will feel that they have lost a parent role model and could have problems
forming their own close family relationships down the road. If you feel
that the signs of parental alienation are evident in your family, you
must take action in the early stages to avoid any permanent damage. Proving
to the court that destructive parental alienation behaviors exist can
be difficult. That is why you should consult with an experienced Pasadena
divorce attorney to help you seek the help that you need. You need an
attorney who understands the problem that you are facing. Here at the
Law Office of Fritzie Galliani, APC we have been helping families for over 30 years.
Contact our Pasadena family law firm today to discuss your case.